Dear Family,
Yes, I know this isn't Monday yet, but we have some very big news that just won't wait until Monday. For the past few days, our lives seemed to really be turned upside down as we were told that with the Russian Privacy Laws becoming more and more difficult to fulfill, Gpa George and I could no longer be the Area Auditors in the Europe East Area in the same capacity as we have been. We were devastated! We could leave Russia and then still take care of the Baltics, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Armenia, but they would have us live in Armenia and act as Member Leadership Service Missionaries there, helping out wherever we could, and do the few trainings and audits that are in the other countries that are not included in Russia. We told each other that we would do whatever the Lord wanted us to do, but after all this training and knowledge that Gpa had, we were devastated that most of his valuable knowledge and help wasn't going to be used. As a matter of fact, the Area Presidency decided to be in compliance with the law to have all of the accounting done on pencil and paper with nothing being sent in to Salt Lake City. They will just use paid employees of the church here in Moscow. In effect, we are just sort of in the way of what the plan needs to be for adhering to the requirements for the Russian Government. Through many meetings and calls between the EEA Russian 2nd Counselor, Elder Samayakin, and Gpa George, and then calls to the International Area Auditing for the church in Salt Lake City, we were all trying to work out the logistics of how this would all take place.
So, yesterday late afternoon, Gpa said, "We need to give them one more proposal that I have been thinking about--that of receiving a new call for this next year of our mission rather than just having them find a place for us here in the Europe East Area. We got on the computer to check out possible openings for Auditors. The first one that came up was Area Auditor for Europe--headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. Wow! That would be so logical that we could jump right over there with it being so close. No language requirement. The next one was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but needed Spanish. Gpa George said, "Well, I took Spanish in high school and can count to twenty, plus say hello and my name in Spanish--more than what I knew in Russian when I came here!" Hah! We thought that we would be willing to go either place, if that is what the church wanted us to do. Anyway, we wrote up the two proposals: 1. Stay in the Europe East Area, living in Armenia, with diminished duties and carrying out MLS assignments--even though most of the Armenians only speak Armenian or Russian--whereas, at least in Russia, we had a few that spoke English. 2. Accept a new calling for the next year of our mission (since our release date is the first part of August) as an Area Auditor, suggesting that we would be willing to go to either of the open spots for Area Auditors International.
Today, Gpa George got an email from the property management department of the church wondering if we were going to renew the rental of our apartment. Gpa took it to Elder Samayakin and said, "What should we do?" Elder Samayakin said, "Can you delay for a couple of days?" In other words, there was definite discussion as to what was going to be happening with us. Then tonight, we received a call from Brother Simmons from the Church Auditing Department in Salt Lake City. He said, "It is so interesting that you and your wife said you would be willing to serve in the Europe Area. We had an Area Auditor (Europe Area) who had to go home for surgery this past week but planned to return. He just called a couple of days ago and said he wasn't going to be able to return." Brother Simmons said that his committee had talked about that being a great place for us, but didn't want to interfere with what the EEA wanted for us. Then, when we had made it as one of our proposals, they seemed to be thrilled with the idea. We told him we were definitely up to doing this, but he said he would need to talk to Elder Samayakin, our Russian Counselor. They talked, and tonight I think it is 95 percent sure that we will probably be moving to Frankfurt, Germany, within a very short time. Our name will have to go before the Church Missionary Department and we have to have a new call, so you can never tell what the decision may be there, but I definitely think we will be leaving Russia very soon--bound for another area for the last year of our mission.
If it were Europe Area, Gpa and I couldn't be more excited! There are 30 countries included in this area--including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Norway, etc., etc. I don't even know all the countries, but there are 30 of them! (Carter, I think England and Scotland are in it, too!!! Kyle, do you have an office in Frankfurt? I hope!) We looked up the Area President--Paul V. Johnson, who was born in Gainesville, Florida! Went to BYU, has 9 kids, sounds like a great guy!
Wow! Sorry, as per usual I have written so much, but we wanted you all to know about it. As we find out more, we will let you know. As I say, nothing is written in stone until we get our call from the Mission Department, but I can pretty much tell you 95 percent chance that we will be leaving Moscow soon! So sorry to say this to all of you who wanted to visit! It is such a unique country that we will certainly miss! I guess there is a reason that we have visited so many places every single weekend on adventures. We have pretty much seen Moscow and the surrounding areas pretty thoroughly. We have loved the Russian people and had so many unique experiences here. We will plan other trips to other places. Sorry we messed up the plans for those wanting to visit Moscow, but like I say, we'll plan other unique adventures other places.
All I can say is that the Lord watches out for you. I know whatever happens will be for our best good and for the best way we can be of service while we are on this mission.
We send our love,
Gpa George and Gma Laura
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